AWS Route 53 & CloudFront

Set up a CloudFront distribution to forward /docs/* to your Jamdesk site, with Route 53 for DNS. Takes about 15 minutes.

Prerequisites

An AWS account with CloudFront and Route 53 access
Your domain managed in Route 53 (or ability to update DNS elsewhere)
Your Jamdesk subdomain (found in dashboard settings)

Step 1: Create a CloudFront Distribution

Open the CloudFront console
Click Create Distribution
Configure the origin:

Setting	Value
Origin domain	`YOUR_SLUG.jamdesk.app`
Protocol	HTTPS only
Name	`jamdesk-docs-origin`

Replace YOUR_SLUG with your actual Jamdesk subdomain.

Step 2: Configure Origin Settings

In the origin settings, add custom headers to identify your domain:

Header name	Value
`X-Forwarded-Host`	`yoursite.com`
`X-Jamdesk-Forwarded-Host`	`yoursite.com`

These headers tell Jamdesk which domain is making the request. The X-Jamdesk-Forwarded-Host header is required for domain verification.

Your domain must be verified in the Jamdesk dashboard before CloudFront will serve content. Complete the DNS verification process after adding your domain.

Step 3: Create Cache Behaviors

Add behaviors to route /docs/* and asset requests to your Jamdesk origin:

Go to the Behaviors tab
Click Create Behavior
Create three behaviors with these settings:

Path pattern	Origin	Cache policy	Origin request policy
`/docs/*`	`jamdesk-docs-origin`	CachingOptimized	AllViewerExceptHostHeader
`/_next/*`	`jamdesk-docs-origin`	CachingOptimized	AllViewerExceptHostHeader
`/_jd/*`	`jamdesk-docs-origin`	CachingOptimized	AllViewerExceptHostHeader

Set Viewer protocol policy to Redirect HTTP to HTTPS for all three.

The /_next/* and /_jd/* behaviors are required for Next.js static assets (JS, CSS) and Jamdesk resources (fonts, images, branding) to load correctly.

The AllViewerExceptHostHeader policy is required. It forwards all headers except Host, allowing Jamdesk to receive the necessary request information.

Step 4: Add Alternate Domain Name

In the General tab, click Edit
Under Alternate domain name (CNAME), add yoursite.com
Select or request an SSL certificate for your domain

Step 5: Configure Route 53

Create an alias record pointing to your CloudFront distribution:

Open the Route 53 console
Select your hosted zone
Click Create Record
Configure:

Setting	Value
Record name	`yoursite.com` (or leave blank for apex)
Record type	A
Alias	Yes
Route traffic to	CloudFront distribution
Distribution	Select your distribution

Step 6: Verify

After DNS propagation (usually 5-15 minutes), visit https://yoursite.com/docs to confirm your documentation loads correctly.

Complete CloudFront Configuration Summary

Distribution Settings:
├── Origin: YOUR_SLUG.jamdesk.app
│   ├── Custom Header: X-Forwarded-Host = yoursite.com
│   └── Custom Header: X-Jamdesk-Forwarded-Host = yoursite.com
├── Behavior: /docs/*
│   ├── Cache Policy: CachingOptimized
│   └── Origin Request Policy: AllViewerExceptHostHeader
├── Behavior: /_next/*
│   ├── Cache Policy: CachingOptimized
│   └── Origin Request Policy: AllViewerExceptHostHeader
├── Behavior: /_jd/*
│   ├── Cache Policy: CachingOptimized
│   └── Origin Request Policy: AllViewerExceptHostHeader
└── Alternate Domain: yoursite.com (with SSL certificate)

Troubleshooting

Ensure the origin domain is exactly YOUR_SLUG.jamdesk.app without https:// prefix.

Verify the Viewer protocol policy is set to "Redirect HTTP to HTTPS" and your SSL certificate is valid.

Create a CloudFront invalidation for /docs/* to clear cached content after publishing changes.

If you see "Domain is not authorized to serve this content":

Verify your domain is registered in the Jamdesk dashboard
Complete DNS verification (TXT record) for your domain
Ensure both X-Forwarded-Host and X-Jamdesk-Forwarded-Host custom headers are set in your origin configuration
Check that your domain maps to the correct project

The domain must be verified before CloudFront can serve documentation.

What's Next?

Deployment Overview

Compare hosting options

Subpath Hosting

Serve docs at /docs

Custom Domains

Verify DNS and troubleshoot